Chapter One: The Old Empire

by David Halliday

Once, over a century ago, there lived two great empires. One empire had owned the galaxy for millenniums. The other was new and hated the old empire. The new empire wanted the entire galaxy for themselves.

There was a great war between the Old Empire and the New Empire. The war lasted more than three centuries. But the two armies were almost exactly equal. Many men were killed on both sides, but more men joined in. The war was more a series of large and deadly battles.

But one night all the commissioners of the old empire went into a meeting with their leader, Lord Vangota. Lord Vangota was a just and peaceful leader and hated ighting. The commissioners were afraid of the new empire. Lord Vangota stood up and said,
"This fighting must stop! We must figure out a way to get the two empires together!"
Then one of the commissioners came up with a brilliant idea.
"Let's have two judges! One from each empire! I vote for Lord Vangota to be our judge and leader!"
There were murmurs of agreement from the commissioners.
"Then I will go and tell them. I have nothing to lose."
"Yeah. Except your life." muttered one of the commissioners.

So the next day, the commissioner set out to fulfil his duty. He read aloud to the New Empire's leader, Nortexs. Nortexs was a cruel man who took advantage of his leadership. He agreed to Lord Vangota's request. He and Lord Vangota ordered their armies to stop fighting.

The old empire's plan worked well. The empires had half the galaxy. But then disaster struck. Both judges were killed under rebel attack. Only Nortexs had a son. His name was Lankan. Lankan was cruel and stone-hearted. Slowly but surely, he forced the Old Empire into smaller territory. the New Empire now owned three quarters of the galaxy.

The Old Empire began to crumble. There were now nmo judges. There was now one cruel emperor. The rebels joined forces witht he Old Empire. This became the rebel alliance.


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